RYAN Donk has been given Tony Mowbray’s backing ahead of Albion’s daunting trip to Anfield.

The defender has conceded penalties in the opening stages of Albion’s last two games, against Newcastle and Blackburn.

The young Dutch under-21 international was taken off by manager Mowbray in Saturday’s draw against Rovers, casting a major doubt over his involvement in the game against Liverpool.

Mowbray has Leon Barnett, Abdoulaye Meite and Neil Clement on the treatment table, giving him few options, although he could move Gianni Zuiverloon into the centre and play Carl Hoefkens at right-back.

But that is unlikely, with Mowbray expected to give Donk another run-out.

“I made the change at half-time not because of anything Ryan had done but because of the way the official was officiating the game,” said Mowbray.

“I thought it was prudent to remove Ryan. He had been booked and the official was of a certain mindset.

“I don’t know whether he had made a few decisions that were debatable and I think the sending off had probably evened up the penalty.

“But I got the impression that just about anything could happen and I didn’t want to give him an opportunity to send Ryan off.

“It’s a tough little period for Ryan and the last thing he needed was what happened on Saturday.

“He’s got to get his head down and work hard. He’s a professional footballer, so there’s nowhere for him to hide. It’s disappointing and frustrting for him to give away two penalties in two games.

“Leon is struggling, Meite is struggling so he has to be ready. Neither (Meite or Barnett) will be ready for Saturday.

“Ryan’s our best option at this moment and he’s in training this week so we’ll see how it mentally affects him. Hopefully he will react in a positive way and be ready to give us a big performance on Saturday.”

Mowbray hopes to have Meite back in training later this week, although Barnett faces up to a fortnight on the sidelines after undergoing an exploratory operation on his knee to clean it out.